I’m an organizing pro – why Swedish Death Cleansing is the decluttering method you need in your life

WHEN it comes to decluttering, the Swedes are dead serious.

And now people around the world are embracing the art of “Swedish death cleansing,” an organizational ideology that thankfully is a lot less morbid than it sounds.

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Called döstädning in Swedish, “death cleaning” is about getting rid of all the things that your loved ones would throw away after you die.

One woman who has mastered this practice is Kathryn of the YouTube channel Do It On A Dime, who shared her expertise in a widely acclaimed video.

“This is the secret trick to simplifying and organizing your house,” she said, adding that it “has completely changed the way I clean my house.”

“Everything you own owns a part of you,” she continued.

“So what is ‘Swedish death cleansing’? It’s the act of de-cluttering your stuff so you don’t continue the cycle of clutter,” she continued.

“One day, when you’re not here anymore, your stuff will be someone else’s problem and I don’t know about you, but I want to live like that now.

“I don’t want clutter to be my problem, either,” she said.

For more information, Kathryn recommends reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson, published in English in 2018.

“She believes we hold on to things for three basic reasons,” Kathryn explained.

“The first is your hoarding instinct,” she said, noting that people tend to hold on to things — in her case, mostly for their kitchen and their kids.

“A good question to ask yourself is, ‘If the item you’re decluttering was covered in red wine, how hard would you try to save it?'”

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“The second reason we hold on to things is our disorder instinct,” she continued. “We like to live in a space of plenty. I think that’s because when we have a lot of choices, it makes us feel more in control…but it ends up feeling really overwhelmed and dissatisfied.

“The third reason we hold on to things is our fear of death,” Kathryn continued, saying that people keep a lot of sentimental items that are hard to part with — but are usually hidden and unused.

After going through her belongings, she showed off bags and boxes of things she threw away, including some that she donated to charities.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a minimalist, but living lighter has given me so much more family time,” she said.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Ds4zELIZ4